MSU equestrian team gallops to historic season

Author: Vanessa Beeson

Pictured are: (top row, left to right): Allie Blackmon, Abby Fox, A.J. Williams, Taylor Jernigan, Lauren Wickline, Olivia Cresswell, Hannah Blalock, Alyssa Davis, Lily Awalt, Hope Gaines and Alex Gordon; (middle row, left to right) coach Hannah Valigura, Taylor Perry, Ashley Herron, Kaitlin Beal, Kacey Losik, Mary Williams, head coach Ashley Glenn, Shelby Boswell, Meghan Martin, Yasmeen Williams, Emily Schomburg, Jillian Conner and team volunteer Erica Carroll; (bottom row, from left to right) Carly Mims, Bette Hoyt, Audrey Miceli, Valerie Webb, Victoria Evans, Morgan Trotter, Elizabeth Kuykendall, Chloe Moody, Reagan Williams and Hannah Brasher. Not pictured are Alexia Levesque, Aliza Williams, Camryn Pike, Claire Farmer, Emily Shook, Kate Rushton and Payton Smith. (Photo by Justin Crowley)

Mississippi State's equestrian team is celebrating a ribbon-filled year for its competitors, including a group of riders earning the best showing in school history.

Students divided between two horse-riding styles—English and Western—competed in six regular-season events this year through the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, a national organization consisting of more than 400 member colleges and universities with a total of 10,000 members.

The English team started the season with a third-place finish—the highest in MSU team history at that time—and placed consistently in the top five throughout the regular season. The team finished as the reserve high-point team—or in second place—in the final regular season show. Alex Gordon, a senior animal and dairy science major from Chesterfield, Virginia, placed ninth in an individual competition at the Zone Championships in Savannah, Georgia.

MSU's Western team placed either second or third overall in each of the six regular season shows, finishing as the reserve high-point team in the season's final show. The group also finished as third high-point team in the Western region. Taylor Perry, a senior animal and dairy science major from Medina, Tennessee, placed sixth overall at the IHSA Western Semi-Final Championship in Lubbock, Texas.

"Our girls dominated with everyone walking away with a ribbon at nearly every show," said Hannah Valigura, an agricultural science doctoral student who coaches the English riders. "The ribbons are great, but we're here to develop better, more confident riders. I've seen a lot of blossoming this year. Some of our most timid riders made huge strides."

Ashley Glenn, the equestrian team's head coach, said she works with a group of students who always support each other.

"By far, this group is the nicest and most supportive group I have ever coached. They work hard and are dedicated to the team," said Glenn, who also is the facilities supervisor for the university's Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station's Foundation Herds. "Everyone is proud of overall and individual successes amongst teammates."

Members of the MSU equestrian team include:

• Aberdeen—Lauren Wickline, a junior elementary education major
• Auburn, Alabama—Elizabeth Kuykendall, a senior agricultural science major
• Brookhaven—Kaitlin Beal, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Cape Charles, Virginia—Payton Smith, a junior marketing major
• Chalfont, Pennsylvania—Olivia Cresswell, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Chesterfield, Virginia—Alex Gordon, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Cleveland—Yasmeen Williams, a senior biochemistry major
• Cypress, Texas—Emily Schomburg, a junior animal and dairy science major
• Dallas, Georgia—Chloe Moody, a junior animal and dairy science major
• Dawsonville, Georgia—Taylor Jernigan, a junior biochemistry major
• Fennville, Missouri—Kacey Losik, a sophomore architecture major
• Florence, Alabama—Alyssa Davis, a sophomore animal and dairy science major
• Hazlehurst—Aliza Williams, a junior psychology major
• Lake—Victoria Evans, a junior animal and dairy science major
• Madison—Kate Rushton, a sophomore biological sciences major
• Medina, Tennessee—Hannah Brasher, a junior animal and dairy science major, and Taylor Perry, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Nashville, Tennessee—Lily Awalt, a junior educational psychology major, and Morgan Trotter, a junior geoscience major
• Nettleton—Emily Shook, a senior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major
• Olive Branch—Hannah Blalock and Mary Williams, both senior animal and dairy science majors
• Ontario, Canada—Abby Fox, a sophomore animal and dairy science major
• Pearl—Camryn Pike, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Quebec, Canada—Alexia Levesque, a freshman civil engineering major
• Slidell, Louisiana—Audrey Miceli, a sophomore animal and dairy science major
• Texarkana, Texas—Shelby Boswell, a sophomore animal and dairy science major
• Titus, Alabama—Allie Blackmon, a senior agricultural education, leadership and communication major
• Vancleave—Ashley Herron, a senior animal and dairy science major
• Villa Rica, Georgia—Hope Gaines, a senior elementary education major
• Waterloo, Illinois—Valerie Webb, a junior special education major

For more information about the MSU equestrian team, visit www.ads.msstate.edu/eteam.

Visit www.ads.msstate.edu to learn more about the MSU College of Agriculture and Life Science's Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

Date: 2022-05-20